I would consider 7000series aluminum as imported mass production stock and not very highend. I think that sort of holds true today. More commonly, 6061 seems to indicate USA manufacture and 7005 Asian.

shovelon wrote:

My guess that K2 dabbled in bikes shortly before they latched onto Proflex. Would make that a very rare bird.

I would consider 7000series aluminum as imported mass production stock and not very highend. I think that sort of holds true today. More commonly, 6061 seems to indicate USA manufacture and 7005 Asian.

shovelon wrote:

My guess that K2 dabbled in bikes shortly before they latched onto Proflex. Would make that a very rare bird.

Never saw those in the states. Euro market only stuff maybe?

7005 is an Easton proprietary alloy developed for their baseball bats. Early 90's 7005 tubesets were very expensive, and still is here in the states. The Asians struck a deal with Easton but was not until mid to late 90's did 7005 frames come from Asia. From the look of the frame and considering the age, I still think it is high end.

That gets me thinking. Easton is very aggresive in stopping unauthorized production of their proprietary alloy 7005, which is a high strength and weldable aluminum that requires a very long heat cycle to soften. That heat cycle is much longer than the weld cycle. Hence, no post weld heat treat is required, only stress relief during powdercoat baking.

Could be why K2 was test marketing in Europe, or Easton shut them down before long.

7005 is an Easton proprietary alloy developed for their baseball bats. Early 90's 7005 tubesets were very expensive, and still is here in the states. The Asians struck a deal with Easton but was not until mid to late 90's did 7005 frames come from Asia. From the look of the frame and considering the age, I still think it is high end.

I agree, maybe just Euro market.

Don't assume 7000 on the sticker is Easton Elite or something uber fancy

I like everything you wrote except the part about mid to late 90's. I know its splitting hairs, but I'm throw in a few years before that. My Nishiki Alien was 7075 as I recall, and imported from Taiwan. Regardless of the arguments about which is stronger than the other as a material, I'd still say it's a safe assumption that the better bikes were made by smaller manufacturers out of 6061, and the big frame pumpers in asia prefered 7075.

I can't think of a top shelf aluminum frame from the early 90's, made from 7075 at all...

I guess what I'm saying is there's a big difference between Easton's 7005 and run of the mill Asian 7075 et al. Not all 7000 series aluminums are created equal.

That gets me thinking. Easton is very aggresive in stopping unauthorized production of their proprietary alloy 7005, which is a high strength and weldable aluminum that requires a very long heat cycle to soften. That heat cycle is much longer than the weld cycle. Hence, no post weld heat treat is required, only stress relief during powdercoat baking.

Could be why K2 was test marketing in Europe, or Easton shut them down before long.

Or the thing has nothing to do with Easton tubes at all, and is just a decent asian-made, private-labeled third party frame sold by K2. Lets not get too carried away and label the thing a Yeti ARC or a Spooky Junebug or something just yet.

I was browsing through my Stumpjumper anniversary book this evening and noticed this.
The K2 logo is repeated 3 times by the S of START - fairly solid proof that they were at least interested in MTBing BITD

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